Could Your Disability Be Beneficial For Some Careers?

If you have a disability, you might think that your options for work are limited. But that’s not true, and in fact, you might have more possibilities available to you than you realize. In fact, you might decide to choose a career where you can help other people like you. By helping others in a similar position to yourself, you might understand your own life more as well as benefiting from helping another in need.

In fact, many people feel as though those with disabilities or who have experience with a disability make the best carers. You won’t have to try and look at the world from their point of view. You will understand how they feel completely because you will have been there before. As such, they will be able to relate to you, and you will be able to relate to them.

You will also know the struggles of having a disability all too well, including the challenges of accepting help. Some people will struggle to accept help from others because they feel as though they are losing their independence. Or perhaps they will be too embarrassed or shy to ask for the help they need.

So, what type of careers are we talking about here? Well, there are a few to consider.

Student Aid

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You might want to think about working as a student aid. This might be the perfect option if you are interested in working with children or students rather than adults. Children with disabilities often need extra attention and help in classes to ensure that they reach their maximum potential. In some schools, student aids or one on ones will be hired to ensure that the child with special needs has the full level of support that they require.

Your role here will involve helping the child through different areas of their school work as well as providing them with someone to talk to. It’s not uncommon for children with disabilities such as learning difficulties to be ostracised by their peers. As such, a one on one can can be an essential part of the support system.

The benefit of this type of role is that you won’t need much training or experience. Instead, you just need to have a little knowledge of working with children as well as knowledge of different disabilities. You might have picked up this experience due to challenges in your own life or have lived with a member of the family who has a disability.

Working In Medicine

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Obviously, you will be working with more people than just those who have a disability, but you can specialize by working with those who have special needs. However, working as a doctor or nurse, you will be able to help a wide variety of different people who need your care as attention. You might think that with a doctor or nurse’s degree you can only work in hospitals, but that’s not true. You might ask yourself, what can I do with a Doctor of Nursing Practice Degree? Well, you can be a nurse with more responsibilities as well as looking after patients. For instance, you will actually be able to determine what treatments a patient should have without necessarily speaking with a doctor.

The benefits of working as a nurse are that you can spend more time with your patients and be more involved with their daily treatments, rather than just providing them a diagnosis. This is probably the biggest difference between being a nurse and being a doctor.

Doctors, interestingly, actually spend very little time with patients. As such, if you are eager to help people, nursing is the ideal career choice for you. The other benefit is that unlike being a doctor, becoming a nurse doesn’t take years of studying and research. It can be a rather quick, even simple process.

Of course, you have other options when working in medicine as well. If you have a physical disability, there are many roles that will not require mobility, such as in research. Working in research, you can help find the cures that will save lives or lead to a better quality of life with disabilities. It’s important to remember that these roles require various skills. For instance, if you have knowledge of technology, you could provide the next breakthrough in robotics for those who have lost limbs and need prosthetic replacements.

Charity Work

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Perhaps you would rather work from home while still spending each day helping others with their life. You can do this with charity work. These days, charity work doesn’t always mean getting out in the world, meeting people and campaigning. Instead, you can network from the comfort of your home. You can be a valuable part of the team by contacting individuals to help gain their support for a specific charity. Or, perhaps writing content online for websites. A large part of charity work is marketing and ensuring that the message behind the charity is heard.

In 2017, this is about filling websites with interesting content, getting active on social media networks and reaching out to people online. If you have skills that can make you an asset in this line of work you could definitely find a job to help people like you. There are plenty of organizations constantly on the lookout for people who can provide further support for their charity campaigns and ensure that they help those who need it.

These are just some of the roles that you can explore if you are interested in helping those in need. Remember, your perspective of the world as someone living with a disability could provide the perfect perspective for help people and making sure they get the support they require. In many roles, it’s not about having the knowledge and experience. It’s about making sure that you are there for the individual and understand the world through their eyes. As such, a disability doesn’t have to hinder you from pursuing a career where you can give your support to others.